Hell Difficulty Tutorial

5th event: Tyrant's Arena will start in one hour! The event will take place in an area selected by the system, tailored specifically for Earth's tutorial attendees.

The event will last one hour.

There will only be one winner for this event - the last person standing at the end. Everyone else will have lost.

Note: It is possible to forfeit the event by simply thinking or saying “I forfeit.”

Note: At forty-five, thirty, fifteen, and five minutes remaining before the end, the barrier surrounding the event area will shrink rapidly.

This event will mark the end of the second Earth tournament. Attendees will then have 24 hours on the tournament floor before returning to their respective floors, where the Floor Quests will continue.

Good luck!

I close the window, get out of the bath, and dry myself by channeling thermal energy through my body. I teleport back to my room, wondering, as I do, whether or not this is making me a bit too lazy. Still, I create an arm made of mana to grab a set of clothes from the bed and bring them to me. After putting them on, I use kinetic energy to float over to the mirror and use another mana arm to turn it toward me.

Looking into my reflection, I see myself wearing an extremely comfortable set of black sweatpants and a similarly comfortable pair of running shoes that I’m sure will explode the moment I perform a particularly quick movement. Or maybe not? Perhaps I could use kinetic energy to prevent that from happening? Seems like it could work.

I complete my look with a gray hoodie, decking myself out with the clothing I bought from Gloria, choosing the familiarity of Earth's clothes over the gear I got in the tutorial. The overall effect is weirdly calming and comfortable. I enjoy the feeling of the fabric and its stretchiness. I’ve even used one of the scent cubes Lily collected back on the 6th floor, so the clothes wrap me in a fresh, citrusy smell.

Another mana arm reaches out to open the door, and I continue to float just slightly above the floor as I make my way out of the room.

Near the stairs, I run into Maya, who stops in surprise, shakes her head in disbelief, and says something about a friggin ghost.

As we have many times before, we all gather in the living room. Everyone goes through their last-minute checks and takes the opportunity to go over our plans and countermeasures one last time.

As the time grows close, I feel a growing sense of relief. Soon, it will all be over.

Even the passive I bought yesterday, the moment I finally gathered enough shards, seems to have mostly taken effect. It cost 580 thousand shards, more than my Mental Attunement Loop, so it better be worth it.

Once again, I reread the description.

Subdermal Combustion Weave (Mid Arcane) - Beneath the surface, the user’s body directs thermal energy into precise micro-combustion patterns. These patterns purge infections, neutralize toxins, and repair tissue through focused heat. Powered by primordial thermal energy, the passive grows stronger the more primordial energy it draws. Harmful substances are broken down before they can spread, and injuries are healed cleanly, leaving no lingering damage. Only total destruction can stop the weave.

Ever since the event was announced, I’ve had a role planned for this passive, and it should play a major part in the final stage. It works especially well with Ignition Heart. Of course, nothing comes for free, and there is a drawback to this passive, but it's something I’m willing to endure.

As the final minute ticks down, I stand up. A memory of Lioren that stayed with me flashes through my mind, along with the determination he showed as he walked toward his end without a hint of hesitation.

I would like to think I would be the same, faced with my death, and I take a moment to wonder if that’s not how my Duplicate felt back on the 5th floor when he challenged the Gaiathra.

With that feeling coursing through my body, I look at the other members of group 4 and say, “I know my sister and I'm sure she said some wild shit.”

Their expressions confirm that, even without words. Victoria was always like that.

“I only have one thing to say to that: if I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here. As simple as that. Take it as you will,” I tell them.

I check the timer once again, the last seconds ticking down, and say, “But for now, let's kick some ass.”

“All the asses!” Dennis cheers, leading his brother and Min-Jae to join in.

Maya shouts something that sounds suspiciously like, “Fuck Victoria, I ain't no parasite.”

There are a few more shouts, and then we disappear, pulled into the event.

I expect all of us to be separated again, but this time we stay together. We find ourselves surrounded by empty streets and cars, with skyscrapers rising on all sides. The final event seems to have taken inspiration from a city on Earth, or maybe it took features from several of them and created the Tyrant's Arena zone from scratch.

Feeling the connection to my mind, I let it in and accept it, connecting to the web that the twins set. At the same time, I start working on the things I’ve planned and begin surrounding my Ignition Heart with a series of pre-prepared arrays made of Ley Lines. I redirect a bit of my mana and most of my [Focus] to managing that while keeping some reserved for detection arrays and defenses.

The rest of the group prepares as well. I share some presences through the link, and Min-Jae floats into the air, tearing off some road signs and pieces of the buildings with [Telekinesis] to kill these people right away.

Dennis, Aaron, and Sophie get to work on the web. Noodle expands in size until his body is twice as long as a bus, and slithers into one of the skyscrapers, where he crashes into more people. Izzy, Maya, and Lily stay nearby, ready to defend the others.

I continue with my preparations, and once we’ve cleared the surroundings and had a quick conversation, I teleport all of us to the top of a nearby skyscraper, then move us to the tallest one I can find.

There’s nothing else to see, just buildings upon buildings, stretching onward, toward the barrier miles away. Roads, parks, shopping malls, cars, and more fill the space. It looks like a city on Earth, eerily empty and slightly distorted. There are too many skyscrapers, the layout stretches out too far across an unnaturally flat landscape, and something about it all feels off.

Of course, the fights are in full swing with smoke rising between the buildings and multiple skyscrapers already crashing down. Lightning, fire, mana projectiles, and poisonous smoke fill the air.

(Lily, Beyonder, on your eight o’clock; physical stats focused. Maya, two Hell difficulty and five Hard difficulty on your six, mage types. Izzy, down on the street, a group of a dozen Hard difficulty enemies; Kim, there’s a group, about a mile away, setting up to observe us.) Sophie continues sharing information.

Each target is quickly dealt with, and once that’s done, my companions settle in to wait for more. Soon, the twins complete their part of Sophie's web, so they start working on their own with the help of [Sensory Deception] and then join in on the hunt as well.

During this time, I work on peeling away the seal on my Ignition Heart. The thermal energy inside me keeps combusting, passive activated by the wounds I inflict on myself and the heat seeping into my body in a truly twisted cycle. As I lift the seal further, more thermal energy floods in and harms me, but that also strengthens my healing, allowing the cycle to continue.

The only problem is that it hurts. It hurts like hell. I don't know if it's because my [Focus] isn't high enough to handle this kind of damage, or if it's because the energy is purer now that I'm lifting the seal to this degree. It might also just be how the passive works, a price to pay for tapping into primordial energy at this level, for embracing a form of power that existed before the system.

Of course, it's something I can endure, even as the pain threatens to cloud my mind. I keep going, and more thermal energy gathers inside my body.

Meanwhile, most of my mana is being saved. One reason it hurts so much, and why the thermal energy is causing this much damage, is because I'm holding back as much mana as possible.

(They’ve found us,) Sophie says out of nowhere, and I can see her manipulating the air in front of her to create some sort of telescopic effect.

At the top of another skyscraper, quite far away, stands a group of people.

Derick, Maxim, Klara, and Hector. In total, four of the tournament winners. Each is accompanied by at least three people, likely powerful Hell difficulty attendees, most of them probably from Beyond.

(You got them?) I ask.

(Sure, just focus on your stuff.) Sophie answers absentmindedly and continues to give orders.

So I do just that while keeping a small part of my mind focused on the things happening around me.

Sophie's shadow seeps into the area as she deploys her arrays and Logic Cores while activating the Golem Heart. Pieces of the skyscraper we’ve placed ourselves on twist and bend; metal, glass, and concrete forming into the shape of a huge spider with long legs. Blackie seeps into it and then jumps onto the roof of the building next to us.

Min-Jae floats into the air and leaves with both of the twins, who combine their efforts to hide him.

(Maxim has the weakest mental defenses, so I’ll try to get to him before he can use his void energy. If that can be used to defend against my attacks, I’ll switch to Hector.) Sophie quickly sends, (Don't hold back, Lily; you will have to handle at least two of the Kings. Maya, focus on defending; Izzy and Noodle will help you. Meanwhile, the boys are going to do some sneaking around.)

Just as we make our preparations, the other side does the same. Not many more people arrive, but even though their group numbers around 20, they’re likely the best they have to offer, each one coming equipped with information detailing our capabilities and strategies.

But we also came prepared, and their problem is that they’re likely well prepared for me, but not Group 4 as a whole.

Sophie attacks first with a cruelty she hasn’t shown since this tournament began.

The 11-year-old Maxim hesitates for a moment and then lifts his arm. From his side, a huge, shadowy wolf steps out and then bursts open before anyone can react. An impressive disruptive wave washes over the group, and a whiff of it even reaches us where we are, carrying the weird feeling of primordial void energy.

Some of their preparations fall apart, and Maxim raises his hand, drives his fingers into his neck, and tears out a large chunk of flesh in a spray of blood.

Hector shouts something, likely a curse, and slides into a pose to throw the spear in his hands at Sophie. But at the last moment, the anger on his face disappears, and his expression falls blank. He twists and instead launches his spear at Derick at incredible speed.

Derick dodges smoothly, and the spear shoots through several buildings in an instant before slamming into the ground. He then avoids Hector's follow-up attack and grabs him in a chokehold, his forearms glowing brightly for a moment before Hector's expression returns to normal.

As he dies, Maxim lifts his arm one last time, and a dark serpent coils its way from his shadow, slipping past defenses and disrupting mana in its wake. It kills three Beyonders who can barely fight back without their mana, focusing especially on the two trying to heal him.

A few projectiles reach us. Segments of the Web Sophie set up ignite with bursts of light as they intercept the attacks, while a swirling flame barrier of green, blue, and purple flares up, burning the rest mid-air.

Then, like a meteor crashing from the heavens, a firetruck plummets toward Derick and the others. Threads of mana lash out, wrapping around it mid-air before slicing it cleanly apart. The shattered pieces rain down, flung aside by a force that feels a lot like telekinesis.

Another truck follows, but it's redirected in an instant. The attackers adjust, shifting their focus to a distant zone where I’m sure the twins have scattered decoys to hide Min-Jae.

A quiet moment stretches. The wind shifts slightly, carrying dust across the rooftop.

I let some of my thermal energy seep out of my body, shaping it into a thick, rotating halo of fire that settles into the air above me. It turns slowly at first, pulling in more heat as it moves, the motion steady and controlled. With each rotation, the pressure builds, and the space around it starts to warp from the heat.

There’s no urgency, just a lingering sense that things are starting to fall into place.